A 2024 Paralympic runner was stripped of his bronze medal after he was disqualified for breaking a finish line rule.
Videos by Suggest
According to Paralympics Australia, Australian visually impaired distance runner Jaryd Clifford missed out on the bronze medal after he was not tethered correctly to his guide Matt Clarke as he crossed the finish line of the T13 5000m Men’s race. Clifford ran the race with Clarke and his other guide, Tim Logan.
The paralympic runner was tethered to Logan during the first 2000m before switching to Clarke during the last 3000m.
Paralympic Australia shared that due to an error in releasing the tether, Clifford and Clarke were bonded just before crossing the finish line. This is notably a breach of International Paralympic Committee (IPC) rules. For that, the Paralympic runner was disqualified from receiving the bronze medal.
In a statement, the Australian athletics team management stated, “Jaryd needs guides to run these distances competitively, but it creates more margin for error and unfortunately today was a realization of that. He has the 1500m on his program (Tuesday) and we know he will be putting all the energy and disappointment into that performance.”
Paralympic Runner Jaryd Clifford Admits It’s ‘Pretty Shattering’ to Not Receive Bronze Medal Following Finish Line Disqualification
Meanwhile, Paralympic runner Jaryd Clifford spoke out about being disqualified from receiving the bronze medal for the 5000m race.
He admitted that it was “pretty shattering” news after he worked so hard following a series of injuries. He previously won two silver and one bronze during the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
“Whatever happens I feel like it’s my fourth Paralympic medal anyway and I’m still chasing a gold,” Clifford stated. “I’m hoping I can shrug it off as quick as I can before Tuesday.”
Clifford was notably the only runner during the T13 5000m Men’s race to use guides. He shared his initial reaction to the disappointing finish.
“I went and saw mum and dad and my girlfriend and broke down,” he said, per Yahoo Sports. “I had my little cry on the side of the track. If you talk about reacting to results as grief, I had my grieving moment. Out on the track, I was a little bit numb, I’m still a bit numb … I am pretty shattered, to be honest, if I’m frank about it, we went in with the aim of winning gold.”
PEOPLE reports for the T13 5000m race, Yassine Ouhdadi El Ataby from Spain took home the gold medal while Aleksandr Kostin from Russia, who is competing under the Neutral Paralympic Athletes Association, received the silver.
Due to Clifford’s disqualification, Anton Kuliatin from Russia, also completing under the Neutral Paralympic Athletes Association, was awarded the bronze.